Sins of the Father Will Visit the Children – What Does It Mean?
Why are children made to suffer? Why is God continually being provoked to the point of anger and judgement upon His people?
You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. ~ Exodus 20:5
There are many ways in which God speaks to the us. Some of the ways in which He does so are by His Holy Spirit, through our conscience, by His voice, through providence. The expectation is that we would heed to His word and carefully, if not skillfully we ought to obey what He says to do.
After all He is the Law Maker. He asserts His authority as He declares in Exodus 20:2 “I am the Lord thy God..” and He presents Himself as the only one to whom we are to direct our worship.
The World Through the Spiritual Telescope [God’s Word]
Looking at the world as it is today, it is overrun by polytheism, nepotism, pride, greed, selfishness, disobedience, rebellion, not to mention the struggle of mankind for position and power.
What do we end up with? We see how pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; and whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.
We need not look too far for some of these examples that have manifested in the earth. They are right in our homes, workplace, in the church, cities, towns, and villages.
The US Presidential bid and the race to the White House 2016, especially from the Republican front runner has reached an all time low.
Never in all my years of looking on from outside the United States of America at the election process have I ever witnessed a campaign of this nature – the mudslinging, name calling and where it is so plain to see that persons are just lacking integrity and have gone so far as to vilify women.
The tirade continues. It has become so tasteless, I no longer have the appetite nor the desire to watch the TV channels that continue to give so much airtime to such individuals.
The fruit of some of the negative seeds sown in the Presidential race has already brought about harvests of riot and violence and the threat of more looming on the horizon if one man doesn’t have it his way. The instigator have even promised to pay the legal fees for those who will do his dirty deeds in their attacks on protesters.
True one may argue about the right to free speech, but I personally do not believe that people should be allowed to spue out of their mouths any and everything that comes out of their mouth especially when it has the propensity towards hatred, malice, protests, riots and violence.
This is what the word of God says:
“Then the Lord passed by in front of him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (faithfulness); v7 keeping mercy and lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].” (Exodus 34:6-7 AMP)
By all accounts from the word of God, His many promises, His virtues of grace and mercy and by our own experiences in life, God is a good God. His greatness and goodness illustrate and set off each other.
So how can God visit the punishment from the sins of the fathers upon their child down to the third and fourth generation? What does it mean?
Fathers [and Mothers] Wake Up, Your Disobedience Is Causing the Ripple Effect!
We wonder at times why we go through so much difficulties in our lives but seldom do we take the time to get to the root and to identify the source of those difficulties.
This is by no mens letting children who have the understanding to know the difference between what’s right and wrong off the hook when they knowingly choose to do wrong.
By no means am I alluding to the fact that children who are of a certain age to understand good from evil should not be punished for their own sins.
As a matter of fact, Jeremiah addressesses this in chapter 16:10-13 as follows:
“Now when you tell these people all these words and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed all this great tragedy against us? And what is our iniquity, what is the sin which we have committed against the Lord our God?’ v11 Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your fathers have abandoned (rejected) Me,’ says the Lord ‘and have walked after other gods and have served them and bowed down to the handmade idols and have abandoned (rejected) Me and have not kept My law, v12 and because you have done worse [things] than your fathers. Just look, every one of you walks in stubbornness f his own evil heart, so that you do not listen [obediently] to Me. v13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land [of Judah] int the land [of the Babylonians] which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no compassion.”
Fathers [and mothers] it is time to wake up! Your disobedience is resulting in the ripple effect in your family – causing them to experience the negative consequences of your wrongdoing (sins) and your children are now having to pay for them today and in the long run to the other generations to come.
The truth is God cannot be mocked and whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)
As fathers [and mothers] it is your responsibility to lead your family/children in obedience to God’s word. Walk away from idols and idolatry. Sow seeds of love, mercy and compassion by what you say and do instead of hate, anger and oppression.
Violence begets more violence, instigated by a man’s actions and the negative junk spued from his mouth.
You want to be a leader? Then lead with integrity and truth. Let your character reverberate the character of our Lord Jesus Christ and not that of the devil.
It is only a matter of time before the harvest of a man’s example sown through the seeds of his own disobedience to God’s law is reaped among his children, and his children’s children. It’s a cycle that never ends until someone in his blood line breaks that cycle.
Conclusion
Mankind was brought forth into [this world] in iniquity and it is in sin that our mothers conceived us. (Psalm 51:5) Clearly we all have a sinful nature built into us which begins at the time of conception.
However, the age of accountability begins when a child is of age and have the understanding of good from evil and right from wrong, whatever age that may be to God.
Yes, God is clear that everyone will be put to death for their own sins. (Deuteronomy 24:16) Parents on the other hand are responsible for their children and must not engage in sinful acts that will cause the punishment, hardships and the consequences of their poor choices [by what they think, say or do] to fall upon their children, even when they are dead and gone.
Kingdom Ambassadors Empowerment Network 
Hi, Yvonne
it is a big topic to be discussed.
You are so right that sometimes the difficulties of our life may be due to the curses from the sin of our ancestors. In fact, all these craziness in families and society come from we are walking more and more away from God . Families and government need to repent and turn away from sinful activities.
In order to remove the curses from our ancestors, we must repent for them so that we will be cleared in His eyes.
Thanks for the information!
– Stella Chiu
Hi Stella
So good to see you. I agree this is a big topic 🙂 I have been toying around with the idea of this post since November 2015, started it and stopped many times but finally got it out live.
You mentioned a key point there and that is curses from the sins of our ancestors. And those who know about curses often take them lightly or take them for granted but they are so real. Generally, one has to go through a series of deliverance to be set from them.
Repentance for people and government is a key component, for without it, the wrath of God remain and abide with us.
Thanks for your contribution. Happy Easter